Project Updates

Policy Integrity, on behalf of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Sustainable Economy, filed the opening brief in a lawsuit to halt illegal practices at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. The brief argues that incomplete and flawed economic analysis leads BOEM to sell new offshore leases too quickly and too cheaply, potentially costing the American public hundreds of billions of dollars.

Policy Integrity, along with the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Union of Concerned Scientists submitted comments opposing a petition for correction sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the other agencies involved in the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon (IWG).

In advance of nomination hearings for OIRA administrator appointee, Howard Shelanski, Policy Integrity sent a one-pager to members of Congress to give them a framework for addressing delays that sometimes occur in the regulatory review process.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, citing Richard Revesz’s work with co-author Jonathan Nash on “grandfathering” power plants, recently reversed a district court order and sided with the EPA in its case against DTE Energy Corp. The court ruled that the Clean Air Act grants the EPA the power to review projections of future emissions resulting from a facility modification without having to wait for data from the completed project.

Michael Livermore, director of Policy Integrity, presents testimony today on the Affordable Care Act’s Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) rule to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The testimony will be featured in a hearing entitled, “The Power of Transparency: Giving Consumers the Information They Need to Make Smart Choices in the Health Insurance Market.”

Policy Integrity is winding down its energy tax breaks wiki after over a year of compiling the expertise of lawyers, economists, tax professionals, and concerned citizens to catalog tax breaks received by the fossil and renewable energy industries.

Policy Integrity, along with environmental attorney Steven Sugarman, are counsel to the Center for Sustainable Economy (CSE) in their lawsuit against the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to halt the agency’s first five-year outer continental shelf oil and gas leasing program approved since the Gulf oil disaster.

Today we submitted a notice of intent to sue EPA for failing to take certain actions to guard against climate change. In 2009, we asked the EPA to limit the carbon emissions that come from mobile sources like cars, boats and planes. The agency did not respond, as it is legally required, so we will now take the next step in notifying them of our intention to sue.

Policy Integrity submitted comments to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on its proposal to increase the guarantee fees that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae charge for single‐family mortgages in the states with the longest average time between default and a final foreclosure sale. This would mean that the costs charged to homeowners for mortgages will be higher in those states with the strongest judicial and regulatory protections against foreclosure.

Representatives of the fossil fuel industry have urged the D.C.Circuit to ignore standard methods of cost-benefit analysis and strike down the EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. Not only does this EPA regulation reduce mercury emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants, it also reduces harmful particulate matter air pollution, or soot. The benefits stemming from the rule far outweigh its costs, with net benefits to the American people estimated to be as much as $80 billion per year.